Wind farms take toll on bats

November 02, 2003

By Paul J. Nyden
STAFF WRITER

Friends of Blackwater, an environmental organization fighting to preserve the Canaan Valley and Blackwater Canyon areas, is increasingly concerned about the dangers wind farms are posing to bats, birds and other wildlife.

Judy Rodd, president of Friends of Blackwater, said ongoing studies show more than 450 bats have been killed this year by huge blades on wind turbines at the Backbone Mountain Wind Project, owned by Florida Power and Light, in Tucker County. The new facility is on the other side of a ridge from Blackwater Canyon, near the town of Thomas.

The Florida Power and Light wind farm has metal turbines 350 feet tall. The company’s string of 44 turbines operates eight miles from caves inhabited by Indiana bats and Virginia big-eared bats. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service classifies both as endangered species.

Curtis Taylor, chief of West Virginia’s Division of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Section, said on Friday, “We have been working with the consultant the company hired to identify the bats they are picking up.

“We have looked at 400 bats, killed between last spring and early October. We have identified them as best we can. There have not been any rare or endangered species. Most are hoary bats that have a wide distribution. The peak [in bat deaths] occurred in August, which coincides with migration.”

Taylor said bats might be flying into turbines during migration flights since they are able to turn off their “natural radar systems” to conserve energy. “That is how they fly into the turbine plants.”

Dr. Paul Kerlinger, hired as a researcher by Florida Power and Light, began his mortality studies on March 1 to examine patterns of birds and bats killed by wind turbines.

Kerlinger did not return a telephone call on Friday or Saturday. His mortality study is required under the permit issued that the state Public Service Commission issued to Florida Power and Light.

Rodd said that Kerlinger’s study already proves that this year has seen “the largest bat kill in the world at a wind turbine facility. Mutilated bats had broken forearms, broken wings and severed heads.”

Species already identified include red, hoary, silver hair, little brown and eastern pipistrelle bats. Not all the dead bats have been identified yet.

Rodd said the first part of Kerlinger’s study identified dead bats collected through the end of June. A second report is scheduled for release early next year.

Rodd said the problem could get much worse when additional wind farms, some of which already have permits, are built. Other projects in the Grant-Tucker county area include:

• Clipper Windpower Inc., which has a permit from the Maryland Public Service Commission to build 67 turbines along 11 miles of Backbone Mountain in Garrett County, Md.
• U.S. Wind Force, which has a permit to build 25 turbines near the top of Big Savage Mountain in Allegany County, Md.
• U.S. Wind Force, which also has a permit from the West Virginia PSC to build 166 turbines along ridges in Grant County, near the town of Bayard, on the west side of Mount Storm Lake.
• NedPower Mount Storm, which has PSC approval to begin building 200 turbines along the Allegheny
Front in Grant County on the other side of Mount Storm Lake, just north of Dolly Sods.

Rodd said the number of bats actually killed could be much higher.

“When previous scientific studies figured in predation from scavengers, the number of dead birds and animals typically grows by a factor a seven. That could mean up to 3,000 dead bats here,” she said.

DNR’s endangered species biologist Craig Stowers is also looking at the dead bats being collected as part of Kerlinger’s study, Taylor said.

“There is also a second study being conducted on song birds. But we have not been involved in that one,” he added.

If the ongoing study shows that wind turbines are killing endangered species of bats or birds, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will get actively involved.

“They have jurisdiction over endangered species. We would comment to the PSC on these issues if we get the data [from Kerlinger and Florida Power and Light],” Taylor said.

To contact staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 348-5164.
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